THE STUTE X SGA ALUMNI GALA WAS A HIT
We write Stevens history HOBOKEN, NJ | MARCH 6, 2025
VOLUME CXXIII No. 19
The student newspaper of Stevens Institute of Technology, and creator of Attila the Duck. www.thestute.com TikTok @thestute Instagram @thestute facebook.com/stevensthestute NEW STUTE EVERY FRIDAY • EST. 1904
Stevens installs new X-band weather radar
Stevens SWiCS hackathon 2026
BY ALDEN SEVILLA, CONTRIBUTOR
BY ANTHONY CURCIOPETRACCORO, CONTRIBUTOR
On October 30th, 2025, Hoboken was hit with a significant rainstorm, with rainfall rates nearly reaching 3 inches per hour. The extreme rainfall rate quickly led to widespread street flooding throughout Hoboken, with areas on the Stevens campus, such as Wittpenn Walk, turning into a river. These flash flooding events are only projected to occur more frequently over time from the impacts of climate change, and developing better flood mitigation strategies and infrastructure is essential in protecting Hoboken from flash flooding. All of this starts with knowing Hoboken’s climate and knowing exactly when thunderstorms will arrive. Stevens’ brand new X-band weather radar aims to help researchers achieve this. A weather radar works by sending out pulses of microwave radio waves and measuring the energy that bounces back after hitting precipitation, such as rain, snow, and hail. The time it takes for the signal to return
Editor, and 4/4 Biomedical Engineering major. Within the gifted tote bag was a newsletter of Stute and SGA updates in a front-page newspaper format, an SGA waterbottle and fidget spinner, and a Stute sticker. During cocktail hour, the guests mingled around the emerald green and gold decor, while picking at the assortment of appetizers catered from Alessio’s Cafe.
Returning for the second-consecutive year, Stevens Women in Computer Science (SWiCS) leads QUACKHACKS 2026, an independent hackathon event open to all interested students in the Hoboken area. Other clubs on campus that co-hosted with SWiCS include Blueprint, Stevens Computer Science Club (SCSC), Stevens Game Development Club (SGDC), Stevens Linux User Group (SLUG), and Stevens Cyber Defense Team (SCDT). From the morning of February 28 to the afternoon of March 1, students from all disciplines had the opportunity to compete in virtual performance-based tasks for a chance to win a variety of high-stakes prizes, in addition to industry-specific workshops, keynote speakers, and networking events for all students to participate in. To provide some context, hackathons are not uniquely associated with Stevens. Many universities and organizations across the globe host these events as a way to
SEE STUTE PAGE 1
SEE SWiCS PAGE 1
SEE X-BAND PAGE 1
ISABELLE VILLANUEVA AND BRADY SANSOTTA
The Stute x SGA Student and Alumni Gala: a glance inside The Stute BY CLAIRE DEAN, NEWS EDITOR Last Friday, February 27, was the first Stute X SGA Alumni Gala from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m in the University Center Complex (UCC) Techflex. The Stute has been reporting Stevens’ history since 1904, but has never received the opportunity to write about their own. Stories from the past several decades were shared and laughed over. A group of
people, separated by generations but joined by shared love for the newspaper and the Student Government Association (SGA), were able to gather together. There were current staff members and past Editors-in-Chief, Managing Editors, Layout Editors, writers, and photographers. The event began with a cocktail hour in the preevent space in the UCC from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. Guests were greeted by Jiya Jaisinghani,
The Stute’s Editor-in-Chief (EIC) and ¾ Biomedical Engineering major, Tianna Spitz, The Stute’s Managing Editor and ¾ Science Communication major, and Samuel Strassburger, the SGA’s Vice President of Operations and ¾ Mechanical Engineering major. Upon their arrival, they were checked in, handed a custom-made tote bag, and a nametag. The tote bag sported a custom design hand-drawn by Itai Geller, The Stute’s Opinion
LOCAL NEWS
NATIONAL NEWS
NJ Democrats introduce the Fight Unlawful Conduct and Keep Individuals and Communities Empowered Act BY ARACELY CANDELARIA, STAFF WRITER If you have opened Instagram or any social media platform in the last few weeks, chances are you have encountered clips of ICE raids and arrests throughout the U.S. in Hudson County. Earlier this month, videos of ICE flooded social media feeds, and mayors from both Hoboken and Jersey City spoke out to protect their communities. New Jersey lawmakers introduced the
Fight Unlawful Conduct and Keep Individuals and Communities Empowered Act, also referred to as the F*CK ICE bill. This bill was introduced after ICE visited the Hoboken and Jersey City area, where agents detained individuals without proper warrants, one going so far as to say, “I don’t need a warrant, bro. Stop getting that in your head, that’s it”. The document’s absence has been a complaint nationally, as people are being detained. The Hudson County Executive, Craig Guy, issued an
executive order to ban ICE, Customs, and Border Patrol from enforcement activities on Hudson County property; if they needed to proceed further, they would have to present a valid warrant. Tracey Tully from the New York Times claims this as a “dose of in-your-face Jersey attitude” in her article “New Jersey Democrats Send Coarse but Clear Message to ICE With New Bill,” as introducing this bill represents an unsubtle message. Guy shared a statement stating, “Hudson County is one of
the most diverse counties in America, and we are proud of that diversity. This order ensures that our residents are safeguarded from harassment and threats.” Hoboken Mayor Emily Jabbour stated that Hoboken will follow suit. According to the official Hoboken government website, Hoboken is known to be a “Fair and Welcoming City.” Ravinder Bhalla—former Hoboken mayor—signed an executive order in 2018,
SEE ACT PAGE 3
Essex-Hudson Greenway Project’s path forward BY FIONA SHI, BUSINESS MANAGER The Essex-Hudson Greenway (The Greenway) is a project to convert a 135-acre, nine-mile-long, unused railway into a greenway for walking, biking, and other recreational activities. There will be spaces for picnics, family barbecues, school field trips, and outdoor exercises, among many other activities. The
Greenway, once completed, will connect eight municipalities from Jersey City to Montclair, emphasizing accessibility and community engagement, aiming to address historical disparities in access to open space across these communities. This project began taking shape in the early 2000s after the old Boonton Line was discontinued, with advocacy efforts paying off in August 2022 when the state offi-
NEWS (2-3)
SCIENCE (6)
FEATURE (4)
PULSE (10)
STUTE X SGA Alumni Gala Discover more about the first Stute X SGA Alumni Gala and how the program for the evening was laid out. Women’s History Month! Discover more abour the women behind Stevens and the accomplishments of women in the Stute.
NASA? AI? Chronohygiene? Read about what’s going on in the world of science. Read answers from the Stevens community to our weekly Roving Reporter, plus solve our weekly puzzle and sudoku.
cially acquired the property from Norfolk Southern for $65 million; construction officially began in July 2025. Earlier this year, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) shared its Vision + Action Plan for The Greenway, serving as a strategic blueprint for the designs, plans, and investments needed to develop the remaining eight miles of the project. The Greenway would connect
over 100,000 residents to walkable park spaces within its boundaries, providing an abundance of space for different recreational activities, potentially increasing economic activity along its path, and becoming a space for community engagement. “This linear park is more than just a path; it is a generational opportunity to weave nature back into
SEE ESSEX PAGE 3
New wave of tariffs brings fresh uncertainty BY SEAN PALERMO, STAFF WRITER On Friday, February 20, a Supreme Court ruling would strike down President Trump’s ongoing “Liberation Day” International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) tariffs in a 6-3 vote under the reasoning that the act did not authorize the president to impose broadbased tariffs. However, in the wake of these old tariffs being recently dismissed, Trump has been quick to respond with new ones, starting globally at 10% before rising to 15%, using a different trade policy, Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, promoting future uncertainty. Following the Court’s ruling on the same day, Trump would take to social media and state how the decision was “ridiculous” and “extraordinarily anti-American,” being quick to establish his new line of tariffs. Moving past the old IEEPA-based tariffs, these new 15% global tariffs based on Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 are more limited in scope, most particularly running on a 150-day rule that would mean they
would need to be voted to be extended by Congress or expire on July 24, 2026. According to Philip Luck, who is a director of the economics program at the nonpartisan Center for Strategic and International Studies, “Section 122 is for a balance of payments crisis, which is when you don’t have enough foreign reserves to pay external debts”. Additionally, he would note that while the U.S. “has a very large trade deficit,” so long as we can “continue to sell assets to the global market, we have no challenge conducting international trade.” With the old average 16% tariffs having been dismissed, trade agreements made under the old tariffs between the U.S. and other nations leave trading partners uncertain about what to expect moving forward. While U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer would say on February 22 that the Trump administration would stand by deals made under the IEEPA tariffs and expected partners to do the same, reactions have been
SEE TARIFFS PAGE 3